


Give Me Wings

by selim_nagisokrov



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Genre: Chronic Illness, Explicit Language, Implied Toothcup, Implied/Referenced Incest, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-10 10:43:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1158724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selim_nagisokrov/pseuds/selim_nagisokrov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance meeting of two people, two circumstances, can change everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Me Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. This is a piece of fiction written for free entertainment only. Any similarities to persons or events are coincidental.

The chair was cold and unwelcoming. Toothless highly doubted that its purpose was supposed to ever be welcoming, probably used to defer long stays. Made to be cheap and efficient, it had been brought in when the hospital had first been developed forty years back. Bleak walls were only personalized with pictures of serene environments and religious figures, with a chart or environmental prompt placed at eye level to help people find the front offices.

Arrival at Berk Medical had been a wave of uncertainty. His probation officer, Snotlout Jorgenson, had yet to arrive, leaving Toothless bored in a waiting area staring at national news. The letter from the courthouse had told him to arrive at the hospital an hour ago, specifying to go up to the fourth floor and wait. Since then, he had observed a multitude of people coming and going, bringing confectionaries of all sorts and leaving in states of dismay or stress.

Brushing his dark hair behind his ear, Toothless snorted when the double doors opened and a man stepped in.

Snotlout Jorgenson was a short, stout man who looked to part of a seasoned officer even though Toothless suspected they were the same age. His dark eyes fell on the dark skinned criminal immediately. "There you are."

"Came where the court sent me." Toothless bit back. "On time, I might add."

"Yea, whatever. You have three hundred community service hours to accumulate in a year, not bad. Six hours you will be at Berk Medical, talking with inpatients that are in observation, waiting for surgery, in the waiting room, or have just come out of surgery. You are not to ask them for personal information such as why they are staying in the hospital. You will check in at the front desk, and check out at the front desk. The nurses will lead you into a room and you will stay with that patient until someone comes to bring you to another. Failure to do this will result in your hours being forfeit. I will pick you up from the hospital and take you to your drug and alcohol treatment and then to your anger management courses. Is this understood?"

Toothless growled. "Yes." He crossed his arms across his chest, letting the short man lead him to the front desk where a pretty blonde sat in her pink scrubs.

The nurse glanced up from her work, blonde hair falling into her face. "Snotlout," She whispered, pleased.

"Hey, Astrid. Got you a new volunteer - court appointed. Steven Nyuga."

"Toothless." The criminal interjected, easily.

"Toothless," Snotlout continued with annoyance. "He will be here from noon to three; any planned visits are coming through me."

Astrid smiled, tilted her head slightly to flash her smooth neck. Toothless smirked back at her, tempted to offer his phone number on the just in case. "Good, we have a few patients this week." She passed a smooth glance at Snotlout. "Hiccup's back."

Snotlout winced. "Hadn't heard. I'll call uncle; see if there's anything I can do to help. Same problem?"

The girl nodded. "I was thinking of having our new volunteer sit with Hiccup; give him a breath of fresh blood in the room." She smiled at Toothless, who felt as though those teeth had become razors. Shoving his hands into his pocket, Toothless shifted. It probably wasn't a good time to admit he would rather pick up garbage than talk to sick people. This place was depressing enough without talking to people who had to stay overnight.

Arms across his chest, Snotlout frowned. "I'm not sure," reluctance laced his voice.

"Well it's not for you to decide." Astrid added. "Follow me,  _Toothless_. I'll bring you to your first person." She stepped out of the small cubical office, opening a side door to allow Toothless into the back hallway where only staff and approved family were allowed. Snotlout snorted, storming out of the office without another word as Toothless disappeared into the back halls. "His name is Hiccup Haddock; I went to school with him. Twenty-two, he's been in and out of hospitals his whole life, he'll be here a week or two and back on his feet like nothing happened, but it makes him a bit edgy to be back. Tired of concerned family and friends, he could use someone new."

"What are some things I do?" Toothless frowned.

"Just talk with him, sometimes he has a new model he's putting together, I suppose you can help with that. I'm sure you'll find things to do." Astrid opened the last door of the hall, a private unit with a lone hospital bed. There was a brunette sitting on the raised bed; white blankets slumped at his lap as he watched television. Green eyes flashed over to the door for a second, but he failed to acknowledge them. "I brought someone, Hiccup."

The volume on the television rose, the narrator of some documentary's voice echoing across the walls.

"He's a little shy. If you need a nurse, just press this button." She indicates a box above the bed. "Are you feeling all right, Hiccup?" She leaned forward, fixing his pillow with delicate hands. Perhaps instinctively, Hiccup leaned forward, allowing his pillow to be fluffed. When she left, he still made no indication of noticing Toothless, who settled into a sturdier chair in the corner of the room next to the small window.

Three hours of watching television a week? He could do that.

Hiccup, he noticed as they watched documentary after documentary, was small, almost fragile. Pale skin from head to toe, he looked as though he had never done any heavy lifting in his life. There was, true to Astrid's words, a partially completed model on a pull-away tray on the side of the room, the small pieces separated and no instruction sheet in sight.

Each documentary seemed to be recordings, linked to a DVD player likely brought from home. The commercials were skipped, returning to the show with little pause until the duration of one was finished to move onto the next. It was an interesting mix, from engineering marvels from a historical stand point to stars and gods. Watching the snap shots of images, Hiccup's attention was focused. A lot of science, most of which went over the older man's head.

"Bet you like that science and math stuff?" He finally said when an hour passed and he was starting to fidget. "Not my cup of tea - too many numbers. I liked lunch the most when I went to school." He crossed his feet, stretching his legs out as far as they would go. "Used to have this math teacher whose face was stretched to a permanent scowl by her tight bun, she was the worst. She was out to get me, like I would turn in an assignment and then she'd say I never did. She failed me on purpose three times, I just know it."

Hiccup didn't look away from his television.

Rubbing his eyes, Toothless leaned back. Technologic constructs of a space shuttle crossed the screen, breaking down the design of the thrusters. "I wanted to be an astronaut when I was really little. Go to Mars, see Martians. Used to put a basket over my head outside and bounce around the backyard, talking to the base about my latest mission."

Hiccup chewed on his lip, a good sign.

"One time, I landed on the planet of Ikbar, and the natives took my sister hostage and I had to join forces with alien rebels. I got my light gun and took out the thousand leg centipedes, moved across the vast deserts and climbed enormous mountains." He stood up, pressing his leg forward, arms drawn back. "I made it to the leader of the Ikbarians - gun pressed into the leader's temple, I pulled my trigger and," He glanced over at the hospital patient, noted that Hiccup was actually paying attention to him instead of the television, "Then my mom called me in for dinner."

The smile was on Hiccup's face, a small one that he tried to hide. "How," he licked his lips, "Did that dream go?"

"Oh, the usual - realized I needed all that science and math stuff, was told I was too stupid to make it so I took a more appropriate path." He didn't go any further, not wanting to mention his string of jobs and periods of unemployment after dropping out of high school.

"Did you find a new dream?"

Toothless frowned. "Not really. Life just started getting in the way, dreams became too much to consider."

Above them, the hospitals air conditioning unit kicked to life leaving a soft hum around them. "Never wanted to be an astronaut, but I loved the shuttle. Loved cars and planes, boats and helicopters. Had every model the store had to offer, was in young engineers clubs and robotics. If it had gears and plugs, I had torn it apart to see how it worked."

Reaching for the table with Hiccup's model, Toothless raised a piece. "I can tell. You make these often?"

"Mm? Oh, yes." Hiccup touched the remote, stopping his program. "This one is an F-22 Raptor; I started on it a few months ago. Finished the top of the jet fighter a while back but have stumbled with the belly." He held his hand off, showing the faint tremor that went through the appendages. "Doesn't make it easier, but if you put your mind to it, it can be done - it just takes longer."

Toothless held the top half of the plan up, taking in each little detail. "Shit, you glued all these pieces together? It doesn't just, I don't know, snap on?"

Laughing, Hiccup tilted his head back. "They only make the snap together models for little kids."

"And you're not?"

"Of course not!" The brunette dropped his head back, a real smile stretched across his face. "Maybe you could, uh, help me put my model together?"

Looking at all the spare parts scattered around, Toothless nervously shifted. "I would not know where to begin."

"I'll help you. I just, I..." The smile vanished, replaced by annoyance as the boy pushed away the table, knocking a few pieces to the hospital floor. "Never mind, whatever." He reached for the remote, turning on his documentary again, letting the robotic voice of narration fill the room again.

Bending to his knees, Toothless gathered the pieces that had fallen before placing them on the table. Tugging his chair over, he settled down with the pieces scattered around him like landmines ready to explode when he touched. "Okay, where do I start?"

They settled into a comfortable exchange of demands, Hiccup pointing to the pieces and aiding with the glue with shaky fingers as Toothless put and held the pieces together. Sharing stories of his grand adventurers as Astronaut Toothless, he borrowed stories from science fiction movies to embellish his tales as Hiccup listened, almost enraptured by these adventures to imaginary places beyond the city.

Personal questions were easily deflected by both parties, Hiccup using poor humor to hide from his life, home, and experience, and Toothless using cynicism to hide his own bad past. "Volunteering my time," he explained when Hiccup inquired why he was at the hospital at all. "Better I give back to the community."

"Do you do this a lot?"

Waving his hand, Toothless grinned. "More so recently, it seems. Someone told me once that for society to accept us, we have to give back."

Hiccup smiled, his cheeks painted red. "That's nice. You are doing a good thing. It's nice to have someone... different visiting. I love my dad and cousin, even my friends, but they always seem so punished when they visit. Will you be coming back here?"

"Until they tell me I can't." He placed the half finished bottom section on the table, making sure not to lose any pieces. "I hope - well I don't hope, err... if you're here when I visit again, I hope we can hang out again. If not, I enjoyed talking to you."

Leaning back against his pillows, exhaustion across his face, Hiccup nodded. "I'd like that. I'll probably be here, in this room." His tremor was more obvious, probably from overexertion. Rubbing the back of his head, Toothless prepared to stand up when the door opened, Snotlout sneaking a look inside the room.

"Good, you're still here." He nodded at Toothless before shifting his attention to Hiccup. "Just heard you were back here." He ruffled Hiccup's hair. "I swung by Fishleg's to pick up that movie you wanted to see with me; maybe we can watch it together?"

"I'd like that," Hiccup whispered. "Can we do it after I take a nap?"

"Yea, you go to sleep. I'll be back later." Snotlout placed the DVD case on top of Hiccup's model. "Let's go, Toothless. Give him some space." He took Toothless' elbow, leading him out to the hall. Shrugging the man away, Toothless stumbled past a new nurse, carrying with her a tray of pills room to room. "Toothless-!" The officer stepped up, grabbing at the criminal's elbow.

Pulling away, Toothless glared. "Don't touch me, pig," he hissed.

"We can get you a different assignment than the hospital. City lawn care, public service - anything."

Toothless frowned. "Why?"

"I just don't think this is the best place for you." Snotlout grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Well, I like it here." Toothless shrugged. "I'll be back on Wednesday." He moved to the front desk, signing out on the roster with a flirtatious wink at Astrid.

With a loud noise, Snotlout followed him out.

* * *

Astrid was working again on Wednesday when Snotlout dropped Toothless off at the hospital. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, tugging into a stern expression that melted when she saw him. She held out the sign-in board with one hand while saying, "You're all he's talked about since Monday." She moved through the small office towards the door leading into the hallway, letting him in.

"He's still here?" Toothless asked, surprise in his voice.

"Mm. Hiccup has multiple observations; this isn't his first time here. He'll probably be here a couple of months, but our goal is a month. He's done it before." She led him to the last room, which was cracked this time. "Look who showed up, Hiccup!" She pushed on the door.

Pulling away from his latest documentary, this one likely from the space center, Hiccup's face lit up instantly. "You came back!"

"I promised didn't I?" Toothless asked, moving into the room to pull the side chair over closer to reach the model, fully anticipating to be asked to continue its recreation.

Coming over to the other side table, Astrid lifted up the tray of lunch with a pitiful noise. "You barely ate, Hiccup."

"I wasn't hungry." Hiccup muttered, matter-of-factly, his nimble, but shaky fingers playing with a wing piece. "I'm never hungry." He admitted absently.

"I'll have them bring something a little different, but if you didn't eat dinner, we'll have to put you on IV." Astrid carried the dish off. Huffing, Hiccup crossed his arms when the door shut.

Smiling as he fumbled with the bottom half of the plane with the top half, Toothless watched the small man in bed. "You know she loves you."

"Yea," Hiccup huffed, " _loves_  to annoy me. The only reason she became a nurse was to annoy people." He raised his bed some with the push of a button, shifting on his pillow. Making an offering motion, Toothless reached behind the brunette, aiding the readjustment of stiff pillows. "I really didn't expect you to come back, Snotlout said not to expect it forever, that you'd run like the rest when it became too real."

Toothless paused as he settled back into his seat. "He's just antsy, doesn't trust me."

"There something I shouldn't trust?" Hiccup reached between Toothless' hands for the small unnamable piece with delicate fingers. He handed the piece over, indicating where it was going to need to be placed. "He's been like that since we were kids. Before people can pick on me, he chases them off. My friends are those associated with him."

"I'm not associated with him." Toothless announced, pressing his thumb on the model airplane, sealing the glue.

"I thought he brought you here." Hiccup frowned, moving another piece towards Toothless.

"Trust me, he's no friend. In fact, I wouldn't be in the same vicinity of him anywhere else." Toothless shifted around the pieces, finding a particularly fascinating small round one. "So," he paused, "We're friends?"

Blush returning, Hiccup shifted in his hospital bed. "Maybe."

"Do you ever leave this hospital bed, or what?" Toothless looked around the machines, nothing looked attached to Hiccup but he wasn't medically savvy.

"I can, but it might cause a problem." Hiccup carefully set aside the pieces, bringing his legs up for the first time since Toothless had met him yesterday. "It used to be I could just write down the occurrence of my problem at home, bring it in on my monthly visits and go on with life. Last week, my instances went up from bi-weekly to every other day, so they brought me here for observation, examinations, and discussion."

Toothless chewed on his lip. "Your instances?" He pried a little.

Hiccup's smile became forced, unsure. "No one told you? Usually Snotlout can't wait to warn people." He stared off distantly before shaking his head. "I have seizures. Usually absence seizures, when I just black out for a few seconds and come back like nothing happened. Had those since I was little and they didn't really affect me as much. Livable, really, just needed some extra care to keep me safe during those black out moments. Dad, friend, sometimes I have a medical staffer. Occasionally I would have a clonic seizure, when my arms and legs would jerk. These were rare though and usually, I'd come to the doctor, have some surgery, they'd be gone again for years. Well, even when I did have them, they were sporadic, until recently when I had three rapid ones and wouldn't wake up. If my care provider hadn't shown up when they did..." He dropped his head back in thought.

"Is that why your hands are shaking?" Toothless indicated the hands.

"This? This started after that big seizure before I came in. My body keeps seizing and the doctors are looking at my brain again. I just want them to get the surgery over with so I can go home again."

Stomach heavy, Toothless sunk his arms between his legs. "What do they do surgery on?"

"My brain." Hiccup smirked. "I have this...tumor that comes back when they remove it. Annoying little thing." He tilted his head back. "So, are you going to leave now?"

"Why would I?"

The expression washed away from Hiccup's face, his grip tightening on the blanket. "Everybody leaves when I say tumor. It's like a death sentence, they don't understand I've had it my whole life and nothing's happened. I have a seizure at school, people walk on eggshells, afraid to set one off. I move next to someone, I become a danger to myself and others. Heaven forbid I have one while cooking dinner and go into a coma."

Shaking his head, Toothless leaned back. "No, I'm not leaving. Nice to know, though... in case you go into one. Why didn't they at least give me a heads-up before I came in here?"

Hiccup leaned forward. "Astrid likes to watch people freak out." The smile fitted on his face was real, eyes twinkling. "I had one yesterday, if it makes you feel better. Should be good today." He pulled the table over, looking at the scattered pieces. "I need part thirty-one and thirty-two."

Feeling he needed to contribute something more than a fine piece of plastic, Toothless whispered, "I was lying when I said I do this often."

"What?" Hiccup glanced up from the two pieces he was gluing together, confusion written across his face.

"I'm not here out of the goodness of my heart." Toothless admitted, shame edging his voice. "I, um, I'm here because the court ordered me to do community service after I was arrested for selling prescription medicine and breaking into cars." The patient's face turned white, his lips pressed together. "Been doing it awhile and, well I guess my luck just sort of ran out. Broke into this car, out of Main, turned out the cops had set it up there to catch people like me and they just happened to find me the day I had a bad business sell so I had some packaged merchandise on me."

Hiccup nodded, playing with the two pieces of plane.

"I fought arrest, was knocked down. Lucky my lawyer talked the punishment to community service instead of jail time." He reached for the top portion of the plane in Hiccup's hand, gluing an additional part on. "But I'm finding that it's not too bad. I rolled out of bed to come straight here because I hoped to see you again."

There was a small smile forced on Hiccup's face. "If you want to go see other people, you can. I won't mind."

"No, I like talking with you."

"You haven't met the others, they're just as interesting."

"Ah, but they don't get a lackey to put together their model airplanes." Toothless swung around the bottom half of the plane. "I can't wait to see what this baby looks like when it's complete. Will it fly?"

Mouth agape, Hiccup reached for his plane. "Of course it's not! It's made to be seen, not played with! And it's a stealth fighter, not a...a... toy!" Laughing, Toothless handed the plane part over, leaning against the bed. "Let me stay."

"If you want." the patient stretched his lets out across the bed. "Let's get this done, hand me part forty and forty-one?" He slipped back into his work. Gathering up pieces, Toothless joined Hiccup in a comfortable silence, no longer feeling the weight of half-truths in the room.

* * *

He came back again on Friday, stopping by the office with a pleased smile. "Can I borrow a wheelchair, Astrid?" He leaned against the counter, a flirtatious smile on his lips.

Blue eyes met his green. "You aren't going to pop wheelies, are you?" She smirked, handing him the sign-in chart.

"Only if Hiccup wants to." Toothless scribbled his name. "He's tired of hospital food, so I'm going to take him to the food court." Astrid's fingers tensed on the chart, uncertainty written across her face. Concerned, Toothless let his hands drop. "He said there was nothing pinning him to the hospital bed, just observation of his seizures... unless you think just exerting himself is causing them." Maybe this surprise was a bad idea, he hadn't really thought about Hiccup's health.

"No, it's just..." Astrid paused. "You're right, there's nothing tying him to that bed, his father has him in the hospital for observation and treatment options, he can come and go as he pleases, but hospital policy is if he is healthy enough to leave on his own, he doesn't need to be here as that bed could be used for someone else."

"We are just going down to the canteen, basement. Of a hospital. He's going to be in a wheelchair and he will be eating."

The blonde rubbed her temple. "All right then, well, as long as he's eating. He hasn't had an appetite and maybe greasy food might entice him. First thing before you get his hopes up- avoid raw foods or anything with the word rare. Yogurts, yogurt products, fresh fruits and vegetables, cold cut, raw nuts, oats, soft ice cream from a machine, unbaked cookie dough, anything that's sat around on a counter for awhile, aged cheese, cheese molds - if you don't know, ask them if it follows a neutropenic diet."

_Yeah, I'll try and remember that._  Toothless nodded, signing out a wheelchair. The cold metal chair was brought to him by an additional nursing staff.

Hiccup was sitting up in his bed when Toothless entered the room, hands on the remote with a new documentary on. "Have you moved since I was last here?" He joked slipping up to the bed to turn the television off with the flick of his wrist. Making a small irritated noise, Hiccup tensed. "Let's explore the hospital."

"I've seen this hospital. It doesn't change."

"Well  _I_  haven't seen this hospital, show me." Toothless tried again.

With a put-upon sigh, Hiccup pulled his legs out from under the covers, tossing them over the side of the bed. He was dressed in a patient gown today, Toothless noted absently. Not giving the boy time to slide to his likely shaky feet, Toothless slipped his arm under tiny knees and under long arms, carrying Hiccup over to the wheelchair.

Arms across her chest, Astrid frowned. "Hiccup, if you're not feeling up to this, just say the word and I'll put a stop to this."

Glancing up at her, Hiccup parted his lips, appearing ready to agree, but that look was quickly washed away with a sudden fire. "No, I want to go. I've been here for a week."

"Your dad-"

"I'm my own guardian, Astrid - dad forgets that. I won't leave the hospital; I just need a change of scenery." Astrid grumbled, disappearing out the door. She returned seconds later with a pink phone, placing it in Hiccup's hands.

"If he has a seizure, help him to the floor, protect his head. Count how long the seizure last, from initial seizing until he calms down and then call me on this phone. The number is under Work Office. Let hospital staff interfere if they are in the room, inform them he is Hiccup Horrendous, EMU with Doctor Bucket as his attending physician."

"'EMU'?"

"Epilepsy Monitoring Unit," Hiccup chimed matter-of-factly. Hospital gown fixed, he nodded towards Toothless. "Where are we going?"

"Getting a bite to eat, just walking around." Toothless slipped his hands on the rubber grips on the wheelchair, pulling the chair from the room. Astrid guided him out, into the waiting area where a handicap button was easily accessible for him to back into to leave the wing. "I've seen what you've been eating, and I'm not surprised you starve yourself."

Huffing, Hiccup straightened his back. "I do not starve myself," he admonished. "I'm just not hungry. This place doesn't exactly make the taste buds savor."

"Ah, but I know a place that makes even a full man salivate." Toothless nudged the down button in the elevator. "Is there any triggers I should know before we go down because - to be perfectly honest - I'm not too excited to interfere during a seizure."

Smiling as the door closed, Hiccup tilted his head back. "I'm fine, just no heavy laser shows or light games." His elbows shifted as they stopped on a floor to allow visitors on. Shifting Hiccup to the side, Toothless hummed softly as the lift shifted to ground floor. "I don't have any money on me." He blushed as the doors closed, preparing to continuing to Basement One.

"My treat." Toothless grinned.

Hiccup's color disappeared. "I don't want my food bought with stolen money, either. I'll see if they can charge to my room."

"No, no, my treat; it's the money I get from side jobs I do on occasion, for my neighbor." Toothless moved to the McDonald's line. "God, it never ceases to amaze me how contradictory the world is. Fast food at a hospital... well, at least when you just need to go up a few floors to deal with clogged arteries." He steadied Hiccup's chair behind a bulging man who looked like he'd had one hamburger too many already. Snickering into the back of his hand, Hiccup glanced up.

"Would you believe if I told you that I didn't have my first bite of fast food until I moved out of my dad's?"

"Shit, no?" Toothless glanced down.

"True story. Dad looked for a cure and found these testimonies stating they stopped fatty food and grease from their child's diet and it stopped the seizures, so he went out of his way to get me the right dietary foods, everything made fresh. I was never so happy when my friend Fishleg's brought me to a McDonald's the night I moved out, got me these french fries broiled to death in oil and nuggets that tasted the same."

Smiling, Toothless nudged forward. "Well, get whatever you want." He scrutinized the menu. "Not as many options, but still has classics on there. Can't say no to chicken nuggets. How many diets were you on?" He asked, intrigued. Hiccup was such a stick, it was hard to imagine him restricting food intake.

"A few. High fat, no carbohydrate, avoid nuts, no MSG. It was my choice to get off a few of the diets, lost the weight caused by the high fat, no carbohydrate diet." He raised his fingers, counting off things he'd been instructed to do by neurologist and homeopathic specialist. "If there was a suggestion, we tried it." He admitted sheepishly. "Can never stop grasping at short straws."

Shaking his head, Toothless nudged them to the counter, ordering food with ease - chicken nuggets, two drinks, large order of fries, and a double cheeseburger for him.

"What kind of side jobs do you do?" Hiccup asked as he exchanged the money.

"I occasionally work in the guy's garage, fixing cars, changing tires, oil changes. It's not going to make me rich, but it occasionally pays the bills, or in this case, buys the food." He led Hiccup to the side, letting other costumers move around them. Their meals were put out quickly and Toothless settled the tray in Hiccup's lap, moving around the cafeteria for a wheelchair accessible table. "What to drink?" He asked, placing the tray on the table.

"Water is fine."

"Hiccup, you're not in that hospital room. You can live a little."

The boy's lips curled. "I understand that, Toothless, but I really shouldn't have caffeine. If they have a juice like pink lemonade, a dash of that to flavor the water will be all right." He cleaned the tray, separated their meal. The fries were poured out, for the accessibility on both parts.

Sighing, Toothless grabbed their drinks, returning with seconds to see Hiccup humming around a french fry. "When does your dad come and visit?" He inquired, sitting down.

"After work, usually." Hiccup murmured absently. "Actually, I have been getting more visitors lately, but they usually taper off."

"That's horrible." Toothless breathed.

"Well," Hiccup chided, "You're only visiting because the courts told you to."

Toothless pointed a fry at Hiccup. "You're stuck with me now, I want to make sure you get out of this place, do whatever you were doing before you were put in here."

"School."

"What?"

Hiccup smiled, nibbling on a nugget. "I was in school - the Berk College, in their engineering department. I plan on going back once I'm deemed healthy enough, but until then I'm taking a break from school so I don't fall too far behind."

"Shoot, you're in college?" Toothless breathed. "You're what, twelve?"

Gasping, Hiccup tossed a fry at the dark haired man. "I'm twenty, you idiot!"

"Ha ha!" Toothless slurped his coke, trying to fight his giggles.

"I'm guessing you didn't go to college." Hiccup folded his hands on the table, leaning forward with interest.

Shrugging his shoulders, Toothless chewed absently on his food. "Have to finish high school to go to college," he said with a mouthful. "But, mom got sick, so I ended up taking longer hours at the local diner, less time in school. By the time I turned twenty; I was labeled a lost cause and wasn't allowed to enroll in classes. They offered equivalent courses and adult night school, but I never went back."

"Do you regret it?" Hiccup whispered over his drink.

"Sometimes - two other friends of mine didn't graduate high school, and they're not doing any better than I am. The other friends, they have their high school diploma, work two-bit jobs, live pay check to pay check. So I figured I dodged a bullet."

"Are you living within your means?"

Toothless growled. "I didn't know we were going to psychoanalyze me today."

Color leaving his face again, Hiccup ducked his head. "I'm sorry, that was rude to pry."

Toothless sipped his drink, looking over at a family with a gaggle of children off in the corner. "I regret it some days," he finally admitted. "Especially when I'm barely scrapping by on Spaghetti-O's that I haven't been eating for the last three days dressed in clothes my friends donated to me. Other days, when I watch a man spend all his time at his job, forgetting to have fun, I feel like I made the right decision."

Hiccup fell into silence, staring at the wall bulletin about health seminars located at the hospital. "Doesn't your mother help?"

Toothless scowled into the last of his burger. "The best day in my life was when I moved out of her hellhole and into my own place. My rules." He grabbed a fistful of fries, enjoying the softness in his hand as he squeezed them into mush. "Might be a foreign concept to you, I bet."

A strange look crossed Hiccup's face. "Never met my mom."

"She leave when things got tough? That's what my dad did."

"No, no," Hiccup shook his head. "She died when I was born. I've seen pictures of her, but it's always been dad and me." He peaked through his bangs. "I, I'm sorry." He whispered finally.

"What for?"

"Maybe this isn't a good topic for today." Hiccup pushed his chair out. "I'm dizzy; can we go back up to the room?" He shifted the chair back, so the handles were directed towards Toothless. When the man didn't adhere to him, Hiccup shifted nervously. "Please," he repeated, "it's very important I go back."

"Are you going to have a seizure?" Toothless stood up, abandoning his food tray. Hiccup looked strained around the mouth, lips white and expression hard.

"I," Hiccup started, "I don't know, I don't feel well all of the sudden." Nervously, Toothless took the handles, waving towards the checkout girl in apology before moving towards the elevator with Hiccup. He suddenly realized how long it took for the elevators to come, his eyes never leaving the quiet brunette in the seat.

"What do you need to me to do?" He shifted the chair anxiously as the elevator's floor indicator shifted to the ground floor and stopped. "I don't know what you need me to do." He rocked the wheelchair carefully, not sure if it would help or make things worse. Thin hands laced around the wheels, stopping the chair suddenly.

Hiccup's voice was small. "J, just queasy. Sometimes this happens. I just need to lie down and avoid throwing up a week's worth of food."

"It was the french fries, I didn't think..." Hell, he barely understood half the thing Astrid had warned him not to feed Hiccup, he'd just assumed the brunette would raise his hand and comment he couldn't have particular foods. "Or maybe the nuggets; Lord knows what they put in fast food."

"Toothless." Hiccup whispered, his hand moving out to the darker male's wrist. His fingers were bony, Toothless realized. Long and slender, very dexterous, like a piano players. There was the faintest shake in the fingers, a low tremor that had to be felt to believe. "Please, calm down." The doors opened with a squeak, families stepping into the wide cafeteria with low tones past them. Toothless slipped the wheel chair past them, jamming the button for the fifth floor. "You're doing good - awesome, even." The doors shut behind him.

Hiccup was quiet as they stopped at every floor, letting people enter and leave the elevator until they stopped at the long open hall of the fifth floor. It was a ghostly floor with an outstanding view of the city, one that Toothless had been in awe at every time he stopped at this floor. Hiccup didn't seem nearly impressed with the view, his glazed eyes focused on the wooden doors to the wing of the hospital he'd spent most of his life in.

Astrid greeted them on entering, her purse swung over her shoulder. Stopping in the middle of the waiting area, she dropped to her knees, fingers on Hiccup's thigh. Hiccup smiled at her, forced and pale. "I think the...therapy is counter-reacting," he said, words masked. "Stomach, churning."

Stepping back, Toothless let the nurses take Hiccup's wheelchair from him, carting Hiccup into the back rooms. Astrid came back quickly, her hair in disarray. "He's just having some reactions from his therapy. It's probably best that you go home or look for another patient today." She paused at the door when he hadn't moved, turning around to reach up to his face. She wasn't that short, Toothless realized as he looked down, barely up to his chin, likely the same height as Hiccup. "You didn't do anything wrong, Toothless," whispered Astrid. "He hasn't been eating a lot lately; his treatments tend to make him sick days afterwards. We're going to give him something for nausea and when you see him again, he'll be filled with energy again."

Glancing back at the room, Toothless shifted nervously. "I guess, he just - he looked so ill. We were talking and then he looked like death warmed over - wanted to come back up here."

Astrid breathed heavily, dipping her hair while the pad of her thumb brushed Toothless' low cheekbone. "He doesn't want you to see him sick. That's so  _cute_." She pushed his bangs back. The stubborn piece fell back into his face. "I'll tell the evening nurse to inform him that you'll be back next week."

"Who's the night nurse?"

"Visiting hours, except for family, stop at eight, so you'll rarely meet her. Another childhood friend, I graduated nursing school with her and she was a year ahead of Hiccup and me in school. Ruffnut Thorston."

"Ruffnut?" Toothless bit back a laugh.

Hands on her hips, Astrid shook her head. "You must be from the Old Berk sector."

"Where even a dragon wouldn't roam." Toothless grinned.

Astrid returned the grin. "Well, names aside, she works with Hiccup at night. I wouldn't try sneaking past her, if that's what you're thinking of doing. She could - and would - kick your ass." She situated her purse. "Well, I'll see you next week Toothless."

"Right." He glanced back towards the rooms. There was such an interesting dynamic in this ward, a different appeal to family than he'd ever seen before. It was intriguing and scary all at once, something Toothless wanted to know more about. "Well, I'm going to find someone else to offer my services for the day."

* * *

When Toothless had turned fifteen, he ran away from home. He had big dreams that week, expecting to go to the big city and becoming a rock star overnight. He'd taken a few gigs, played with a few random bands, but nothing came from it besides a hole in his pocket and a realization that his mother had been right: he really was a loser. With a few bucks to his name, he'd crawled back home to his mother and begged her to take him back.

He of course edited his family out of the story when he told Hiccup one warm autumn morning, a month into their acquaintanceship. Hiccup had been enraptured by Toothless' stories, no matter how farfetched they were. Having never left the city for anything other than medical consultation, Hiccup noted he lived vicariously through television and friend's stories his whole life.

Looking small in his hospital bed, Hiccup was strapped up to a machine, little pads pressed against his cranium. Every so often, the machine made a small noise, recording Hiccup's brain waves to a larger machine inches away. Unable to leave that tiny hospital room, the two fell into intricate stories about their attempts to achieve dreams, usually from Toothless' perspective.

"I just wanted fast cash, easy work." Toothless admitted in the end. "I'm a bit lazy. If I could, I would curl up for the winter and sleep until spring. Problem is: I'd wake up in a box at the city dump. Not a good idea." He nudged Hiccup, who chuckled into his medical band. "I know you had to have tried to achieve one dream outside of living on your own."

Folding his hands in his lap, Hiccup laid his head back on his mattress, the pillow used to support his back. "Nothing like that. I never realized how much I rely heavily on my dad until you talk about just up and leaving with what's in your pocket. I'd be home within thirty minutes if I ever attempted that. No, um... oh! There was this time, back with I was thirteen, and I snuck out of the house. I wanted to go to the arcade where they were teaching this trading card game that everyone was going on about. They were even going to show footage of scenes banned on television, so this was a deal of a lifetime. I suppose it was something like running away. I grabbed my backpack, put on shoes, used the rain duct to slide out of the house and disappeared into the night."

"So adventurous." Toothless leaned forward.

"Maybe, I had to ride two busses to get to the arcade in question, paid a pretty sum at the door to get in, and then realized my mistake. Have you ever been to Bucket's on Third and Main?" Toothless shook his head, which made Hiccup smile while crossing his arms. "It's like putting your head in a bucket, to be sure. It was dark inside, no windows. That night they had a fog machine going - what was supposed to be a friendly card game training had become an overnight party. 'Okay, I can live with this,' I thought. Situated my backpack, made myself at home inside with someone else who'd thought it was supposed to be a nerd fest and then it happened."

"What?"

"Strobe lights." Hiccup hissed. "The whole place started flashing red, blue, yellow, and green. It was so fast and repetitive, the same beat as the music. I... don't remember much after that. I know I had started to breath heavily, dad had said to avoid flashing lights since I was a toddler, all I could imagine was these things killing me right then and there. Just pictured the ceiling opening up and a machine gun slipping out and  _bam!_ , I'm dead..."

He paused in his thoughts, staring off at the wall now cluttered with get well cards from friends and family. The darker skinned man waited as Hiccup relieved the situation, wondering what had happened. The picture of a rave entered his head, people screaming and laughing, bodies pressed together. He'd been to a few, but couldn't recount much about them except the heating of his body and cloudiness of his head. In fact, he couldn't imagine Hiccup there at all, not with his medical conditions.

"There I was, two busses away from home, with my book bag and shoes and you know what I forgot?" Hiccup smiled darkly. "My medical bracelet that says something like 'hi, my name's Hiccup and I have seizures. Please send me to this doctor in case of emergency.' I remember lights and waking up in the hospital with doctors gathered around me. I'd had a huge seizure that put an end to the party immediately. No one knew what to do, only one person had any medical training and they froze under the pressure. This hospital, in the outskirts of town, had no idea who I was and my medical history, no identifying factors." He swallowed heavily. "Never did that again."

"There are always other parties - one's without lights."

Hiccup smiled. "I didn't want to have another seizure and ruin people's fun. They don't deserve to be scared to death." He shifted in his bed. Without thinking about it, Toothless reached behind Hiccup to fluff his pillow. "Besides, I never want to see that look on Dad's face again. He was so scared when I disappeared in the middle of the night and then to wake up to a call from a hospital - it was awful." He brushed his hand down his face, wiping the frown awake for a blank stare. "Anyway, I was young then. Stupid."

"Sounds like you were looking to add some excitement in your life." Toothless settled back.

" _Bad_  excitement."

"How would you have known it was a rave waiting to happen, especially when they advertised it as something else?" His legs stretched across the clean floor, leaving a loud squeak as he did so. "Did you at least have some fun before you blacked out?"

Hiccup smiled. "You know, no one's ever asked me that."

"Seems like something to ask." Toothless shrugged his shoulders.

"Well...I did. There was music, and people, and I bet if I didn't spiral out of control, then it would have been the best night in my life." Hiccup's grin stretched further. "Have you been to these?"

"A few times, more so when I first went out on my own than I do now. Life of the party, you know?" He reached to the side table, grabbing his drink he'd left there earlier. "Not something I do too often now because, let's face it, you've seen one rave you seen them all. Dance against somebody you never met, blow a load or two in the bathroom, find an unusual drug to try, losing your week's savings to some whore - it becomes monotonous."

"Sounds like I may have missed a bullet then."

"Not saying anything against it," Toothless added. "Just saying, it becomes old fast when you do it so often. Maybe, once you get the okay, I'll take you to one that doesn't have strobe lights. I have a friend, he makes accommodations occasionally - and he owes me." Toothless winked.

Hiccup's green eyes flickered. "I'd like that." He settled his head back. "Did you ever tell your mom everything about your time in the city?"

"Only what she needed to know," Toothless explained. "I told her that things hadn't worked, lied about my friend's being pricks." He exhaled. There was a lot more to the story than he'd admitted, from his side of the proposition about returning and the reason why he finally left her care in the end. "I didn't want her pointing out all my mistakes. I knew I made a mistake or three hundred, and she would have smeared it in my face if given the opportunity. Anyway, I wanted to just go back to the way things were with a few alterations to my life. A couple more freedoms, if you will."

"Oh." Hiccup frowned. "Like what?"

Without missing a beat, Toothless said, "Like her boyfriends not using me as a punching bag."

Hiccup chuckled at first, but the laugh dried up quickly when he realized Toothless hadn't joined him. Eyes wide, his lips parted. "Really? She, did she know they were - doing  _that_  to you?"

"She knew, said that if I manned up once and awhile and defended myself, that wouldn't have happened, but she promised no more bad boyfriends if I'd take care of her. Money-wise," he added quickly at Hiccup's pale face. "Ew, no. She only needed the boyfriends to pay bills and buy her the occasional nice thing. So, I started the extra jobs, dropped out of school and tried to support her in ways she never supported me."

"...But you moved out in the end."

Toothless shrugged. "There were some things I would never give her that a bad boyfriend could. When they started coming back, I left the picture. Haven't been back in years." He rubbed his face. Sometimes he wondered about his mother - especially her health. It had taken him until he was sixteen to realize that those boyfriends had been actual  _clients_  that his mother had brought home. She must have whored herself out to hundreds of men before he ran away.

"Man," Hiccup whispered. "My dad dated over the years, but they never lasted. If any of those women had said or done anything to me, they would have been on the curve in seconds." He grimaced. "It doesn't compare, I suppose. Dad's girlfriends... they were nice enough, eager to help and be there for my father, but it never lasted long. A month in, they would realize that they weren't just getting a husband with a kid, they would be getting a husband with a kid that required  _special needs_. It became too much. There was one though," His shaky hand rubbed his scalp subconsciously, but Toothless noticed a small flinch that ended the action quickly. "Oh, I must have been twelve at the time when she came in. Was nice at first, pleasant. Said her 'how do you do's, but never passed my bedroom door. Dad ended it when she brought up intensive care facilities that would tend to my needs. Told my dad that his next child wouldn't need as much care, she promised. Just was going to wipe his plate clean of me, make him happy for once in his adult life."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, her face when dad screamed there was nothing wrong with me was priceless. It was the first time I saw him stand up for me instead of trying to apologize for any inconveniences I might have caused other people."

Toothless smiled. "I bet." He placed his drink back on the side table. There was a slight beep from one of the many machines hooked up to Hiccup, but he paid it no mind. There was a calming air in that hospital room, the low sound of an ambulance in the side yard reaching through the glass window pane on occasion. The discomfort of the first few times with Hiccup was gone, replaced with common place.

He knew the hospital staff by name, and on occasion visited the other patients that may have been visiting for the week. Most stays were short term, gone within five days of observation, but Hiccup remained consistently in the hospital, shrouded in mystery. He fought the urge to ask Hiccup why his observation was taking longer than the others in the wing, at first from fear of medical jargon and now because it was not his business to question.

Tumor, he knew that much. It seemed serious enough, but Hiccup hadn't always been in the hospital. Why was now any different and why so many machines? The usual, the one he saw on occasion that meant he and Hiccup were stationary, was a machine with several sensors that were tapped to Hiccup's scalp and face, with little space between the next circular sensor, each one going back like a cap through Hiccup's head - an EEG, an electroencephalogram, that measured brain electoral activity.

Toothless had first called Hiccup a cyborg when he first encountered the machine, which had made Hiccup laugh and the machine fired up. He'd watched it for some time, watching the steady waves of lines like a heart monitor, always on the lookout for the patches of quick scribbles that Hiccup explained would mean a seizure.

Luck was, he'd never watched Hiccup have one of the big seizures. Most he'd witnessed were what Astrid called the smalls, where Hiccup's eyes darted around the room for seconds until he came back with a paused blink, trying to figure out where he was. Toothless admitted fear about finding out what the big ones looked like.

"Would you really take me to a party?"

"What?" Toothless averted his attention from the machine.

"You said you'd take me to a party, for real?" Hiccup whispered.

Toothless smiled. "Of course! You have to get out of this hospital first, though."

He smiled, resting his head back against the pillow. "I'll try."

"Don't try. Do."

"I'll do." Hiccup grinned just as his meal was carted into the room by hospital staff.

"I'm going to get a bite," Toothless stood up. "Want anything while I'm out?" He asked, checking his back pocket for his wallet.

"No, I'm good."

Hiccup was asleep when he came back, a plastic bag at hand filled consisting of two sandwiches, two chocolate bars (because he knew Hiccup would request one sooner or later), and a soft drink. Settling into his chair, he cracked open his sandwich while glancing through Hiccup's pile of magazines to select the recent issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology.

At some point, Hiccup had highlighted several aviations marvels, making notes about the specifics about each design. Toothless smiled, enjoying the look into Hiccup's interest. Travel was, without doubt, Hiccup's biggest interest alongside engineering.

He smiled at the thought of Hiccup designing a hovercraft.

Absently, he tucked his leg under him, stretching his back out as he read the articles, surprised at the difficultly in level. A glance at his newest friend, he smirked.  _He would so read at this level._  He glanced over the picture of the fancy jet with a low whistle before turning the page.

"Mm."

Glancing up again, Toothless watched Hiccup's face as the boy grimaced, head tilted back. He waited for those thin eyelids to open, patiently putting the magazine down. The second he leaned forward, Hiccup's head snapped back.

Jumping back, the dark skinned man could only stare as Hiccup's body shook, head thumping back, arms stiff to the side. The machines buzzed to life, a loud siren in the room that faded into the background as Toothless watched.

Time seemed to stand still as Hiccup slapped the sides of the hospital bed, making low moaning noises through clenched teeth. At the corner of his mouth, thick saliva pooled. Finally, the jolts seemed to lapse and the boy's body stilled. He was pulled from his thoughts as Astrid came up to the bed, lowering the mattress. She wiped Hiccup's mouth cleaned, checked his mouth for open wounds and made a note of the time before bringing the brunettes hands down to his side.

Hiccup slept on.

"W, what was that?" Toothless whispered. He'd seen something like that before, but only in movies with demon possession.

Astrid placed her hand on his arm. "A seizure. He'll sleep for a little while, maybe fifteen minutes." She went over to the bedding, fixing Hiccup's blankets to avoid the tangled mess around his leg. Toothless stood up, helping Astrid shift the bedding around just to keep his hands busy. There were faint tremors going through the brunette's body and Toothless found himself lacing his fingers with Hiccup's stiff ones, trying to steady the shakes.

Seven minutes after, Hiccup's eyes peeled open. His fingers tightened around Toothless' hand for a second before pulling back, realization drawing across his face.

"I didn't want you to see." He whispered, hands pressed against his cheekbones.

Toothless chewed on his bottom lip, bringing his hands to his lap. "I needed to, though," he whispered. "I needed to have a glimpse of the real you." His voice cracked. Gaze downcast, he swallowed. "I was scared at first."

Hiccup pulled his hand free. "Still didn't want you to see." He brushed his fingers roughly against the dip of his eye, catching the trail of wetness before it even started. "I hear I look like a broken toy during one, something waiting to explode. The doctor promises me they're more controlled now than before my last surgery but I don't see it. If they were, sure wouldn't be here."

The dark skinned man slacked his shoulders. "Don't have anything to compare it to. What are they doing here to help? All I've seen is a bunch of testing."

The smallest of smiles twisted on the brunette's lips. "Certainly feels that way, doesn't it? They do a little of this, a little of that. I told you, I have this... tumor in my brain. The doctors had removed it once, did radiation and followed it by chemo when I was older. Its persistent, kept coming back and they'd repeat the cycle all over again. The doctors are weighing my options again."

"Trying to find a cure?"

"No." Hiccup's head dropped against his chest. "We stopped looking for a cure when I was seven. We're looking for a working solution, something that doesn't take me down to death's door. There has to be a way to control it and let me live my life for longer than five years." He dropped his hands on his lap. "But I don't think they have an answer, at least not something we've tried before."

Above him the air conditioner rattled. Toothless swallowed, realizing just how loud even that sounded in this small quiet room. "They'll find something."  _They just have to._

Hiccup's smile was forced.

* * *

Hiccup shaved his head mid-December.

Coming in with the latest aviator model he'd spotted at the local hobby shop, Toothless couldn't contain his surprise to see his friend freshly shaven and trying to fit on a hat. Nervousness flashed across green eyes and the silence between the two lasted only a few seconds before Toothless gathered his wits about him.

"Right, so I found the one-forty-eighth model of Space Shuttle Discovery. It seemed like the next best thing after that space station last month." He opened the box, dropping parts across the table, still neatly wired in. "Considering I asked what kind of glue we needed, the sales person insisted I get the child's snap on model kit, but I figured you'd micromanage the production anyway." He pulled his seat forward while opening up the flimsy instruction manual.

Hiccup lowered his hands once his hat fully covered his pale head. "You're not going to say anything?"

"What's there to say? Thought everyone shaved their head eventually when they do chemotherapy." Toothless snapped out the parts labeled  _B_. "You pull it off - you look like a bad ass rather than a lost sheep." He smirked.

Flushed, Hiccup played with one of the dislodged pieces. "It doesn't make me look like I'm dying?"

"Hardly, you look healthier without hair falling out every time you scratch your scalp." Toothless popped out two other pieces. "We should find a better hat though. Pink and green? Who bought that for you?"

Huffing, Hiccup tilted his head back. "For your information, no one bought it for me - Ruffnut made it for me. It was her class project, she had to sew a hat and it was the first thing she ever made." He pulled it off his head, analyzing the knitting. "She usually destroys things rather than create it, like the first model she and I ever made she went to put the antenna and put the tweezers right through the ship. Pissed, she tossed it against the wall. A few weeks later, she brought this in. Her fingers were wrapped up and she admitted she hated the colors. It's so stupid looking, and girlish, but," he paused, playing with the edge. "It was her way of apologizing."

Toothless breathed. "It was wrong of me then," he whispered, "to say that." Mostly because he'd seen Ruffnut on multiple occasions and the girl scared him more than the drug dealer he frequented. "It suits you." He took the hat from Hiccup's bony fingers (and planned to order in something other than hospital food for the boy to eat), placing it on the boy's head. "And, it does put some color on your face - when was the last time you've been out of this room?" He tugged Hiccup towards him, carefully twisting his knuckles on the other man's scalp.

The laughter echoed in the tiny room.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm helping you do this." Astrid crossed her arms across her chest, blowing a loose strand of blond hair from her face. Next to her, Ruffnut and her brother Tuffnut shifted with equal unease. Toothless offered a bright grin at the other man, who he had only heard about through Hiccup. "And where's Snotlout?"

"He's coming; he's hit every red light in Berk coming from work." Tuffnut pulled out his phone, checking his messages for the hundredth time since meeting the group at the hospital's front lobby.

Astrid, not in her printed scrubs for once, turned to Toothless. "You do realize how much trouble we're going to be in if my boss - much less Hiccup's father! - learns about this, don't you?"

"We won't get caught.  _I_  spoke with the night nurse-"

"Berta," Ruffnut interjected.

"...Yes, Berta," Toothless groaned, "And she said she'd cover us, but we have to get him back before morning. No drinking, no smoking, no blinking lights, nothing that may inadvertently kill him on our watch. Two nurses," he smiled at the ladies, "To keep him alive and three men to keep him moving. Hiccup's going to love it."

They waited an additional ten minutes before Snotlout's heavy form made it into the lobby, breathing heavily. He and Toothless exchanged a familiar look, but the man didn't comment about the night's activity. "I brought my car rather than the cruiser, so I'm parked pretty far out. Let's get Hiccup and I'll collect the vehicle."

The floor was quiet when they arrived. Berta glanced up and swallowed, permitting them in the room. "He's watching a movie in his room."

"Does he know we're coming?" Toothless asked.

"No. I should warn you, he's in a mood." Berta shook her head. "His father visited."

Astrid and Ruffnut winced, but Snotlout turned his head and supplied for Toothless' benefit, "I wouldn't say he's given up, but Uncle Stoick has been disappointed with treatments for years. Hiccup reacted poorly to his last treatment. The doctors want to try the treatment again, but Uncle doesn't want to. Hiccup does. They've been butting heads about it for some weeks. As an adult, Hiccup can choose his own treatments and as a father, Uncle Stoick will keep paying for the services."

"Hiccup's going to have another treatment besides chemo?" Toothless tilted his head.

"He hasn't told you?" Snotlout bit his lip.

Tuffnut pushed on his shoulder. "Hey man, Hiccup will tell him eventually. Tonight's supposed to be fun."

Toothless grumbled as did Snotlout. The topic dropped. "Anyway, can we have a chair to get him to the parking garage?" The stout nurse left the room as the four adults went towards the back hall. The hospital, Toothless noted absently, was so different at night with the soft green glow of lights in the hall and half closed doors leading down the hall with the three other patients that Toothless admitted not to have ever visited. Hiccup's door was ajar, the flashing of light echoing into the hall.

Stepping into the room, Toothless glanced at the old movie on the screen before smiling at the startled Hiccup. "Evening Princess, your knight is here!"

"Oh gallant knight, welcome." Hiccup muted the television. "What dragons have you slain to see me?"

"All four of them," Toothless waved his arm towards the door where Astrid, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Snotlout stood. "Are you ready?" He held out his hand. Hiccup frowned.

"For what?"

"We have a party to go to."

Glancing around the criminal, Hiccup frowned. "Astrid, what is this loon going on about?"

"Toothless has a seizure-friendly party at his apartment tonight and invited you and your many nurses. And your probation officer. And, just to spruce up the numbers, Tuffnut."

Smirking over his shoulder, Toothless added, "You're not nurses, you're the strippers."

He hadn't expected Snotlout to hit him. Laughing, Hiccup cupped his hands in his lap. "It's not visiting hours. If I leave this bed, the hospital will release me."

"They aren't going to know." Astrid smiled. "Berta's not going to list us as missing, but we have to be back before morning shift."

Berta slipped in the room, leaving the wheelchair to update Hiccup's charts for the last time that night. Luckily, Toothless noted, Hiccup wasn't tied up to the EKG machine. If anything, the boy did look a little pale with the latest bout of chemotherapy, but not enough to look sickly. Going through the side drawer, Toothless pulled out a pair of sweats and a loose top as Snotlout helped Hiccup out of the bed and into the bathroom.

Forty minutes later, they were pulling up outside Toothless' apartment. Canvassing the parking lot, Toothless noted his roommate's car, the man's girlfriend's, three other friends, and his own friend, Meatlug. Taking a deep breath, Toothless smiled at the group from the better part of Berk. "They're good guys. They're here for a party."

"Toothless," Astrid hissed.

"Leave the wheelchair in the car," Toothless instructed Stoic. Reaching into the backseat, he helped Hiccup stand and started towards the apartments with the boy gripping his elbow. Climbing to the third story took a few minutes more than if it had been just him, but the boy seemed ecstatic at being the opportunity to try the smallest things without help.

There was a small drum of the bass outside his door, but in this apartment noises were mostly ignored on weekends so Toothless didn't worry about someone calling the cops on him. He did, however, worry that his friends wanted to make the event more of a scene with the strobe lights. He'd been adamant when doing the prep that the overhead lights remain on, covered up by soft colored sheets to give atmosphere. No flashers, no blinking, nothing that might accidentally set Hiccup off.

It had been a miracle that Snotlout had even let Toothless do this notable crime of removing Hiccup from his hospital bed without permission. This could cost him his badge if Hiccup's fathered hollered loud enough.

"One sec." He winked at Hiccup and his friends, pushing open his doors.

Meatlug was dangling paper lanterns from the ceiling, seeming proud with the few trimmings he had added to the house. Stormfly, Hookfang's girl, jumped from her place at the ladder, supervising the decorating. "You're decorating blows."

"You blow." Toothless opened the apartment door, letting the group in. His roommate, Hookfang, was messing with his music player, going through his playlist before switching to another song. Other friends from a mix of his drug life and school had shown with significant others and were already on the open floor, mingling and dancing.

Hiccup stepped into the room, wide eyed and hopeful. Music poured around him as his friends shifted just as nervous.

"Relax!" Toothless pushed the group further into the room, shutting the door behind. "It's a party!" He grabbed Hiccup's hand, moving through the room to introduce his friends to the boy.

Things relaxed quickly, Toothless danced with Stormfly three times before Hookfang barred her off from other men with the flash of teeth. Two guests had a bit too much and dancing grew closer and closer until bodies were brushing against one another on the dance floor.

"How long have Astrid and Snotlout been dating?" Toothless asked as he brought Hiccup a ginger ale when the boy voiced an upset stomach. The blonde was swaying with Snotlout, red faced and stammering about the day.

"Mm?" Hiccup sipped the drink. "Does always count as an answer?"

"No."

"God, must have been when we were in high school they got together the first time. Astrid's a bit of a flirt, you see. They look good though, I wish them the best." He held is drink up in a toast.

"Hear, hear." Toothless dipped his drink back, a feeling of loss on his lips as the soda drained rather than the beer he wanted. He hadn't wanted Hiccup to feel left out from the other drinkers. "Have you always just watched from the shadows?" He finally asked with the slightest tip of his head.

Hiccup's face turned red. "D, do you mean have I been seeing anyone?"

"Or man, it's an open city." Toothless took another gulp.

The blush deepened. "I, I suppose it is. Uh," he turned away, "No, I haven't. There hasn't really been much time, you know?"

"Understandable." Toothless leaned back on the couch, watching his roommate kiss Stormfly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Meatlug shrink off with Ruffnut  _and_  Tuffnut, but he didn't voice this observation out loud. He jumped when Hiccup dropped against his eyes, the boy's bony fingers playing on the rim of the can. "You okay?" Toothless asked, trying to get a good look at the boy's face for any signs of pain. "Stomach still bothering you?"

"I'm fine, feel really good." Hiccup smiled. "Thank you for doing all this, Toothless."

"I was overdue for a party." Toothless relaxed, dropping his arm around Hiccup's shoulders, careful not to dislodge his hat. "I didn't do anything for you, short-stuff."

"Whatever you have to say." Hiccup whispered, his eyes closed. "Toothless..."

"Yea?" The man dropped his head back.

"I still want to thank you, I needed this break." He took a shallow breath. "Toothless..."

Toothless closed his eyes. "Yea, Hiccup?"

"I'm going into surgery next week."

His stomach churned. "You'll get better."

"I don't know what's going to happen. There's a seventy percent chance I can finally go home and go another give years without seizures. There's a ten percent chance I won't come out of the operating room alive." He took a deep breath. "What do you think I should do?"

A mess of thoughts attacked him at once. He wanted to tell Hiccup not to do something with even a miniscule chance that he won't come back alive. Yet, he wanted to also tell Hiccup to take every chance available that would help him follow his dreams. He finally chose, "It's not my right to tell you how to treat yourself. You know the figures, you know the realities." He dropped his head against Hiccup's exhaling hard. "No matter what decision you make, I know you're going to make the right one."

Hiccup smiled. "Thank you. And, Toothless?"

"Yea?"

"Since we're out and all, can I drive us back to the hospital?"

Toothless smiled. "Maybe when you get out of surgery? That way your buzz kills of a cousin and his secret lover can't stop us." He closed his eyes. "Wanna dance?"

"T, together?" Hiccup blushed, waking up all the way.

"Sure, it could be fun." Toothless stood up, offering his hand to Hiccup. The boy took it and together, they slow danced, enjoying one another's comfort.

* * *

He promised Hiccup he would be there when he came out of surgery. It was, perhaps, the earliest that Toothless had ever been up, even knowing Hiccup. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair, watching some early morning show, he tried to focus his attention on anything other than the ticking of the clock as he waited, knowing he wasn't privy to any information pertaining to Hiccup.

The waiting room was mixed with four other groups, families that moved quickly through the area to their friends and family, replaced by another. Thirty minutes into his wait, Snotlout stepped into the waiting room, dressed appropriately for work. "Toothless." He nodded after visiting the front desk for information. "He's still under, it's going good."

His stomach loosened. "Thank you," He whispered. He hadn't realized his nerves were wound so tight until that moment. "Taking time off?"

"Er, technically I should, but I, uh," Snotlout scratched his chin, "I told my superiors I'm checking in on a certain Steven Nyuga, make sure he's up to no good. So, are you up to no good?"

"Robbed a convenience store before coming here." Toothless held up his coffee. "Are the others going to come?"

"Astrid had to work and Ruffnut just got off third shift, so she's incapacitated right now. Uncle Stoick will be coming in after an appointment, noon at the latest. I'm going to be here for another hour and then I have to actually do some work." He settled into the seat next to Toothless, cell phone in his hands.

"I've never met his father, what's he like?"

Snotlout choked on his coffee. Wiping his mouth with his wrist, the probation officer looked away. "Um, there's not much I can say you don't already know."

"All I know comes from family drama." Toothless sipped his drink. "Apparently he's stubborn but loving, mysterious yet present, and constantly busy."

"He knows about you." Snotlout supplied subtly. "You're all Hiccup talks about, so he looked into you."

"And apparently suspicious." Toothless concluded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Snotlout lowered his gaze. "Just stay here, you'll meet him later."

Toothless frowned, but returned to his inattentive watching of early morning television.

True to his word, Snotlout left shortly after ten, confirming that Hiccup was still all right. Staying in his spot, Toothless shifted his watch from the doors leading out of the waiting room and the doors leading to surgery. Nurses came and left, men in green scrubs stepped out and talked with love ones again.

Almost forty minutes after twelve, the doors opened and a familiar man stepped into the room. Toothless swallowed, standing up and taking a glance around the room to see if he belonged with another family, but when the man only stepped to the nursing station and requested for Haddock, everything clicked at once.

_Hiccup Haddock._

_Stoick Haddock._

His Civil Court Judge.

Taking a deep breath Toothless sat back down, tucking his arms between his legs. Around him, he could hear the movements of the people, but he focused on the heavy steps of the tall, menacing man he'd seen on several occasions. Judge Haddock was known for his roughness in the court. He didn't give second chances, but his rulings were supposedly fair. If jail time was due, jail time was given. For someone like Toothless, community service was a likely attachment to their sentences.

Toothless had hated the man the moment he'd seen him in court because, unlikely his other trial, he wasn't going to get off scot free. He wasn't going to be given any warnings.

Failure to finish any community service was more than just a hefty fine. It was two additional years in jail.

"Mister Nyuga."

He looked up past his eyelashes. "Judge."

"You are aware this does not count as your community service hours." The red haired man asked, crossing his meaty arms across his chest, his nice suit creasing along the seams. "But that does not make your presence completely unwanted, Hiccup will be happy to know that you are here." He settled into the chair across from Toothless, looking like a giant amongst man.

"I'm aware it's not, Sir, but I am here for Hiccup. He's my friend."

"Once your community service is over, you'll forget about him."

"No I won't, Sir." Toothless growled, but quickly stifled his anger knowing the man could retract his community service in a second. "Will be friends for a long time." That second part wasn't as strong, but it was something to grasps for - to prove the man wrong.

Stoick dropped his head back. "Hiccup's fond of you. I couldn't possible see why."

"Neither can I." Toothless wondered about that a lot. He was self-centered, rude, and irritating. They were two men on different sides of Berk, poor and rich. If things had been different, Toothless doubted he and Hiccup would ever have met. The boy was so smart, on a fast-track to a career and family. Toothless was on a track to nowhere. He was lucky if he didn't end up in the same position in a year or in jail within two.

The clock ticked away.

"I don't understand," Toothless finally broke the silence. Stoick glanced up from his hand-device. "How is he so opportunistic about this?"

"Who? Hiccup?" The older man frowned. "He's always been like that. Ever since he was a little boy, he ran into everything head first. Maybe it's wishful thinking?" The man crossed his legs at his ankles. "When he was little, I told him there would be a cure, never give up hope. In the end I gave up hope and he's fighting on."

Toothless sat up straighter in his chair.

"I bet he told you about our fight last week? He seems to tell you everything." Stoick lowered his handheld. "Did he tell you the risk of this procedure?"

"Yeah, seventy percent chance of success. Good odds, I guess considering its brain surgery."

Stoick shook his head. "Maybe because it's my son, seventy percent chance isn't the same as ninety or one hundred percent effective. I just want him to live now. I'll support him just as long as he lives." He lowered his head, breathing heavily.

"I told Hiccup to go through with this surgery, if he wanted to."

"Before he met you, he was ready to go home and just live with his seizures. Every time you visited, he talked more and more about finishing his education, about his career track, about _parties_." There was a hardened look in his eye and Toothless worried the man knew about the previous week. Hiccup had seemed so excited that night, only crashing well into the day with the help of a cocktail of medications. "You're acquaintanceship with him gives hope."

"Hope's always good."

Stoick shifted in his seat. "Yeah," He looked away, "Hope."

It took ten hours for the surgeon to step out of the back room. The man, a foreigner, approached Stoick with familiarity and the two exchanged pleasant greetings that included the judge introducing Toothless. "If you have a moment?" The doctor directed Stoick towards a private corner. Toothless stepped back, looking towards the beautiful landscape photo.

"They brought him up to ICU," Stoick started, thickness in his voice, "He hasn't woken up yet, but we're welcome to go and see him."

Toothless let the older man led him up to the third floor, a private room with a window that looked out to Berk Nature Park. Hiccup looked so small on his hospital bed, hooked up to machines. Toothless stopped at the door, letting Stoick shift around the room. Chair placed next to Hiccup's bed, he reached for the boy's hand, taking the smaller digits in his meaty one.

"He looks so tiny," Toothless admitted.

"He's always looked like this after." Stoick made a low humming noise, a familiar nursery rhyme. "No parent wants to outlive their child, did you know that?"

"I'm not a parent."

"No, you're not." Stoick bit his furry lip. "Maybe one day you'll understand where I stand in all this."

Hiccup didn't wake up that day.

* * *

Toothless put his foot on Hiccup's bed, flipping television channels. "All right, this doesn't look right." He held up the so-claimed-to-be wing of the shuttle he'd been working on the last few weeks under Hiccup's instruction. "I glued the two pieces together, but I don't think if this was the actual thing whether it would fly." He shifted the piece upside down, looking at bent tip.

On his bed, Hiccup quietly remained asleep, additional tubes took over his face, blocking a clear view.

"Whatever, you're no help." Toothless shifted again, careful to avoid the tubes. Around him the soft beeping of the heart monitor continued a reassuring hope. "You need to wake up, Hiccup. I can't do this alone." He took another part, using his thigh to read the instructions. "Before I forget, Stormfly thought you were hot, swany and all. If you go see her again looking like that, she might even let you stick it in. I know, I know, that's not how you want your first time to be - don't get all riled up - but seriously, I'd hit that if she'd let me. Lucky bastard." He glued another tiny piece onto the wing.

Around three, he visited Astrid in the cafeteria for some lunch, bringing up some fries to sneak under Hiccup's nose, hoping to lure the boy into consciousness. Stubborn like a mule, the boy remained unconscious.

Stoick visited around five, just as Toothless was grabbing his bag to leave. The two made eye contact for a second before looking away. "Do you have a moment?" Stoick finally asked.

Glancing at his cell phone, Toothless shrugged. "Sure." His shift wasn't until midnight, but sleep could always wait.

"As it were, it was a seventy percent chance that Hiccup would make it out of that operating room alive. His first surgery was thirty; of course he was still an infant then and a much earlier time. His prognosis if we didn't get rid of that tumor was much lower; the doctors speculated he wouldn't make it past the first year." Stoick moved into the room, sitting next to Hiccup. "I took the chance because I had just lost his mother. Complications during labor. He," he stopped, looking at his hands, "He was so small and I was holding him for the first time and then he seized. It was so fast, face pulled upwards and tiny cries as his body locked up. My father said I should just let him die, he wasn't going to live long."

Toothless swallowed, pulling up the other seat.

"It felt like eternity, waiting for the doctors to come and say there was an accident that my new baby died on that operating table. Luckily he didn't die, but there were some complications. The tumor had developed in utero and was part of the brain. Partial removal and radiation therapy to fight it was my only option. He spent seven months in the hospital before I was able to bring him home. Those doctors told me he would never have to go through it again."

The man's face was blank as he spoke, reflection in his eye. "He would always have seizures, but it was small ones, he'd still be able to function and live. Then he turned two and it came back. I once sat with him for an hour on the bedroom floor as he had a seizure every two minutes. More surgery and more radiation. It finally came to a point that we couldn't have anymore surgery without digging into brain tissue. I told Hiccup that we didn't have another chance after last but Hiccup said this would work. This doctor was going to remove it."

He glanced up at Toothless. "Seventy percent chance that he was going to survive. Ten percent he'd die. There was another twenty percent missing. The risk that he would make it through surgery, but there would be irreparable damage. He might never wake up or, if he did, he'd lose some other function. Hiccup thought it was worth the risk."

His stomach churned. "He'll wake up; it's only been a week."

Stoick laid his head on Hiccup's hand. "I don't know what I will do if he doesn't, he's all I have left."

* * *

"'Dragon Air Races - Come Watch Us Fly,' can you believe this horseshit, these streakers aren't dragons, the real Dragons are in Okinawa right now, performing feats that these so called 'Dragons' couldn't even imagine. I should write them an angry letter. Or siphon their fuel, whichever. How do you siphon fuel anyway?"

Toothless hummed through Berk Local Newspaper, thumb on random pages as he moved from topic to topic.

"And the Blessons had another baby, that's what, fifty by now? Ugh, this city's overpopulated as it is. On the bright side, Mildew's Dairy is doing half-price ice creams. You love that crap, goat milk and all." He glanced over the paper at Hiccup's still form, additional machines laced into his body. His heart, he noted, seemed to increase in beats.

Nothing pissed Hiccup off more than missed ice cream.

"Can't cart your bed in there you'll have to wake up eventually." He murmured for the hundredth time that day, shaking out the crinkles of his newspaper. "So," he leaned forward, "I went to see my mom yesterday. She was still the same whore she was a couple years ago, but it seems her age is slowing her down. She's settled with a new man, he's some automotive salesmen in Northtown. From what I saw, he doesn't seem too bad."

He paused to gather his thoughts. "I told her why I left, what I wanted from her. I realized that she wanted a man more than just financial security and emotional wellbeing; she had always wanted me to have a dad. Thought I would turn out better than she did if I had a man to teach me right from wrong."

His mother had been tired, worn out and sober. She worked a dayshift at the local cleaners and came home to a responsible man every day. After the initial screaming match and accusations laced with malice, she had taken him into her arms and begged him to do the right things for once in his life.  _Don't do what your father did to some unsuspecting woman, man up._

"I'm a lot like my dad. I never met the man, but I certainly took his life lessons. Things got tough, I fled. Mom became a hassle, I moved to another city, another family. I have never held a job, never finished school. I'm a loser like him." He took a deep breath. "We all become like our fathers I guess. Look at you; you're as stubborn as yours." He laced Hiccup's fingers into his own. All boney and pale, the veins contrasted clearly. "Too stubborn to give up on a fight you were unlikely to win and now to stubborn to wake up. You're scaring us."

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand touched his shoulder. Astrid wiped at her eyes, settling on the arm of his chair. "I thought I'd find you here. You are aware sitting with a comma patient works for community service hours, don't you?"

Toothless pressed his lips together. "I changed my locations. I do community service at the homeless shelter. This," he licked his lips, "This isn't community service."

"He's happy to hear that." Astrid released her blonde hair from the ponytail. A quick glance at her verified she had just come off work. "He's running a small fever."

"Infection from surgery. They're treating it."

"Has anyone else come in today?" She tried again after a few beats.

Toothless shook his head. "It's just been me today. Hiccup said people go away when it becomes real."

Astrid nodded. "He was always the pessimistic optimist. He'd seen people come and leave so often, he expects even his friends to go away when it becomes too much. You, Toothless, were his outlier. No matter how off putting he was, you came back."

"Stupid is what I am." Toothless sat back in his chair, never letting go of Hiccup's fingers. "Is Judge Haddock still hiding out in his office?"

With the shake of her blonde head, Astrid leaned into his side. Toothless tucked his free arm around her waist. "He's been talking with specialists about Hiccup's chances of waking out. The section of the brain was a risky area. They took out as much as they could, but couldn't remove the entire tumor without damage." She closed her eyes. "This is the longest he's ever slept after surgery. We're all worried. People come out of comas days, weeks, months, or years after entering. The problem is the longer he's in this state, the less likely he's going to recover normalcy."

She stood up, pulling her hair back. "You look like you could use a walk and I haven't seen light in a few hours. Walk with me?" She laced her arm with Toothless' and led him out of the room.

* * *

Hiccup had another seizure by day nine. Toothless had been fluffing the boy's pillow when it happened, the stiff head slammed back and small, forced vocal imitations came from the brunette. Without a thought, Toothless slapped the call nurse button and sat back.

It looked like he was choking on the tubes going down his throat. In his state, he'd knocked down three additional tubes as the heart rate monitor chimed in panic. One of the male nurses pushed Toothless out of the room as the doctor rushed into the room.

From the tiny window looking into the room, he watched as Hiccup finally stilled enough for the nurses to remove the tube that caused him to vomit. The doctor shined a light in Hiccup's eye, checked his vitals, and performed test on his hands and legs before quietly talking to those privy to the situation.

He was still outside the room when Stoick stepped in. The man looked haggard, ready to cave in on himself as he stopped outside the room. "He had another seizure."

"I need to speak with his doctor then." Stoick walked away, towards the nursing station to have the surgeon summoned. Laying his head back, Toothless picked up the broken voices around him.

Fever induced seizure, infection of the brain. The worlds seemed to spiral around him, accusation towards the doctor for not doing everything in their power to stop this from happening. Options, options, options. Everyone had suggestions, but in the end it was Stoick's choice.

Doctors didn't think Hiccup would ever wake up.

"We have to wash our hands when we enter or leave the room. He is carrying an infection we don't want spreading." Stoick used the hand sanitizer next to the door before opening up the room. Toothless followed suit, keeping an appropriate distance. Hiccup was pale with tubes reinstalled. Across his bald head were the familiar patches of EKG, trying to predict a seizure so staff could be better prepared.

Toothless leaned against the wall. "I thought the surgery was supposed to stop his seizures."

"Delay them. Sadly, this one wasn't caused by the tumor. He's been running a high temperature that has been monitored for some time. The nurses had noted that it had spiked to an alarming number just before you started yelling about him seizing." Stoick rubbed Hiccup's temple, leaving a line where his fingers had pressed. "Frontal cortex was damaged, they believe. The EKG isn't reading as it usually would."

His frown deepened. So many questions, but he didn't know which one to ask first. The one that won out was, "Will he be okay?"

"We won't know until he wakes up. The tumor was located in this area," he rubbed his hand under Hiccup's nose. "They removed a good portion invasively, but anymore would have killed him because of its location. The infection moved forward over the week, even with interventions." Stoick reached for Hiccup's hands. "With all this damage, he won't be the Hiccup we remember - that's a given. Neurologically, his motor skills are ruined," He offered up Hiccup's hands as an example. The faintest of tremors continued through the digits.

He would never be able to do aviation engineering like that.

"I should inform you, however, that Hiccup has a DNR on himself."

"DNR?"

"Do not resuscitate. He didn't want to keep pushing the day his body said no more. I promised to support him on that."

Toothless frowned. "So, Hiccup isn't going to keep fighting?"

"As long as his brain is still active, he will. There's a limit that even he will not pass over. But," Stoick didn't offer Toothless any more attention, "That is for another day."

Toothless housed himself at Hiccup's other hand. Without another pass at the man, he veered back onto the topic he had been having with Hiccup prior to the seizure. "...Right, Stormfly. She and I go way back. We were in elementary school, but back then she was the weird girl in the overalls with a craving of coconuts. She denies it now, but she really was..."

Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug.

He talked about all his friends, how he met them, their strengths and weaknesses. Stoick didn't say anything as he mindlessly moved onto the night at the party, how cool Hiccup looked at the party, dancing with three ladies and how Toothless had to hold the boy up in the end.

"I should have taken you driving." Hiccup had said, several times, he'd never driven a car because of his seizures. He played video games with cards, able to maneuver a vehicle on the packed streets of some city without a hitch. "No," he amended himself, "I will take you driving. The minute you wake up, you me, my car, the streets of Berk wouldn't know what to expect."

That made Stoick smile.

"After, we'll get some ice cream - Mildew's." Toothless grasped at the hand, feeling the sting in his eyes. "I'd introduce you to my mother. She's really falling into that house wife routine. She made me a casserole last time I visited. Tasted like shit, but I can fake it like the best."

His watch chimed.

"I have to get to work, Hiccup. I'll see you same time tomorrow, don't go nowhere." He fixed the boy's blankets and started up. "Don't do anything irrational, Judge Haddock." He grabbed his bag and left the room.

* * *

Snotlout came to his apartment two weeks later. The man looked more haggard than Toothless felt, dressed in the same clothes he'd worn when he did a home visit two days ago. Rubbing his eyes, fresh out of sleep, Toothless let the man in his apartment as he went to go get some coffee.

"I know, I missed seeing Hiccup yesterday. I took an extra shift at the gas station after my community service. Been crashing since two this morning. Cup?" He offered another stolen Styrofoam cup towards Snotlout. "How's Hiccup, anyway? Wake up?"

"That's what I've come here about." Snotlout took the coffee, draining the scalding drink quickly. He didn't seem bothered by it however as he lowered his head. "He's... not good. He's had another seizure yesterday."

Toothless put his drink down. "Damaging?"

"The doctors are saying his neurons are misfiring now. He's a seizure ever few hours now and it's causing more damage. He's in pain Toothless. Frequent pain."

Toothless swallowed heavily. "I need to go see Hiccup."

"You do." The man whispered, cryptically.

The hospital seemed even further away than ever. The silence was deafening. Toothless' leg bounced as he thought, trying to understand what was happening. It was only five in the morning, hours before visiting hours except in an emergency. Emergencies with Hiccup's condition only meant one option.

The parking garage was empty.

"They're going to pull his plug," Toothless whispered.

"It was in Hiccup's Living Will. Uncle Stoick's done everything in his power to put off Hiccup's request, but the law is going to catch up with him and he could lose everything if he didn't uphold Hiccup's final request."

Toothless swallowed.

"This is our last time to talk to him. I thought you would want to know." Snotlout chewed his lip.

"Let's do this."

Toothless led the way, greetings from familiar hospital staff falling deaf on his ears as he took the elevator to Hiccup's floor. The ICU wing was quiet, with only the faint hum of hall lights as some patients slept on. Hiccup's door was open, filled with visitors. Astrid, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Stoick stood off on one side.

Toothless and Stoick's eyes met for a second. He moved on, towards Hiccup's bed. The boy had lost some weight while in his coma. His eyes seemed sunken in, arms bonier than ever. There was more of a noticeable tremor going through his fingers.

"Hiccup."He wanted to grab those bony shoulders and shake the boy awake. This was the last chance for him to wake up or they would lose him forever. "You got to wake up; you still have school and then there's that model we started. I, I can't finish it on my own." He swallowed hard, fighting off the tears that burned his eyes. "You were going to go to the World Aviation Fair next year, go and see the Dragons up close. Remember? You were talking with the Red Dragon's pilot to be able to sit in the Pilot's Seat? Hiccup?"

Stoick's big hand touched his shoulder.

"He might wake up!" Toothless shouted. "People come out of comas all the time! Just say we lost his will!"

"Toothless," Snotlout whispered.

Astrid squeaked, turning away. Ruffnut and Tuffnut curled into each other.

"I know, boy." Stoick pulled Toothless into his bigger form. His large hand engulfed the dark haired criminal's head. "Hiccup didn't want to suffer. He asked that if he was unlikely to wake up, by doctor's estimate, that we pull the plug. He didn't want to live like this."

"I should have told him not to do the surgery!" Toothless sobbed.

"Hiccup had decided to do the surgery a week before he met you. He would have done this anyway." As he stepped back, he pulled Toothless with him, a nod of his head towards the doctor.

Toothless couldn't watch as they machines were removed from Hiccup. No feeding tube, no respirator, no EKG. He waited for Hiccup to make his own breaths, to open his eyes like in the movies. People, he reasoned with himself, always came out of their comas when supports were no longer given.

"His brain activity is minimal," The doctor's voice echoed across the room.

"So we just wait."

Toothless choose to wait outside the room, staring at the picture of a serene mountain range. He dreamt he and Hiccup were there, running through the trees as the base, ignorant of the world around them.

He didn't have to wait more than forty minutes before it was over. Hiccup's body couldn't sustain itself on its own. Astrid's sobs echoed into the hall. The twins walked off in each other's arms to sit in the waiting area, away from the body. It took sheer will for Toothless to stand and walk in the room.

Stoick sat next to Hiccup's head, lost in his own thoughts while he rubbed the boy's hand lovingly. Snotlout, however, was on the other side of the room, chin in his hands. "I'm sorry." Toothless whispered, not sure to whom. He moved across the small room, to Hiccup's other side.

Grasping the boy's hand in his, he noted the stillness of it all. Hiccup looked at peace, head lying back, no longer plagued with medical problems. "Look," he whispered. Stoick did as did Snotlout, "I think he's finally happy."The grimace that had been on Hiccup's face for weeks as the seizures became painful and frequent was gone, replaced by a boy who was finally sleeping for the first time in weeks. He brought the still hand to his temple, leaning into it.

"I'm so glad I got to meet you, even for such a short time."

* * *

_Hiccup Haddock, Loved Son, Friend, and Student._

It seemed so incomplete, a piece of graphite in a family plot. Stoick had mentioned at the funeral, a year ago, that Hiccup was finally with his mother. It would be nice to share the child with the woman he loved.

For Toothless, he seemed kind of cold. Hiccup would have much more preferred to have his remains in space - he had heard of people who did that. "Oh well, you can't have everything," He murmured to the grave.

"I brought you something." He moved over some flowers, left by dear friends for the anniversary of Hiccup's death. "Took me forever to make this, but I can't think of a better place it should go." He pulled out the model space shuttle he and Hiccup had started, all those months ago. "The wings a little lopsided, and I doubt she'd pass to fly, but it's the last thing you and I ever made."

He touched the sloppy paint job, the shoddy engineering, and poor attempts at gluing. The first rainstorm would destroy everything he worked so hard to make, but it didn't seem right to put it back in his room to rot. No, this was Hiccup's as much as it was his.

"I'm back in school. After I finished my community service six months ago, way ahead of schedule, I had nothing to fill in that time. Started to think, what does some idiot like me want to do?" He rubbed his brow. "Mom thinks I'm an idiot for trying again, I didn't make it far the last time, but I plan to make it this time. I have people rooting for me now." He lowered his head.

"Astrid and Snotlout are getting married next fall. I'm sure your dad already mentioned that. I, uh, got invited, but it seems weird going to my parole officers wedding. Astrid says that the invitations from her, not Snotlout so it's okay." He scratched his nose at the private joke. "Meatlug is seeing both twins. How that works, I don't know, but he says it rocks. I leave it at that."

Bringing his arm up, he rubbed his eyes, collecting the wetness building up. "I am going to Berk Technical School. Astrid's helping me get my nursing degree. Heh, I thought it was funny, but... after what we went through, I know I want to help. I'm not smart enough to be a doctor, don't think I'm able to be a nurse, but Astrid says I'll do fine if I just apply myself. Your father seems to agree." He took a deep breath.

Above head, the Red Dragon flew, breaking the sound barrier with an angry roar. Toothless stopped to stare at it. For a second, he felt like Hiccup was standing next to him, watching with just as much awe. "I know you're gone, and won't come back." Toothless continued, not taking his eyes off the sky. "But I bet you're watching all this, because it's what you've waited for. Always watching, always pushing."

Zipping up his light jacket, he started back towards the bus stop, leaving the shuttle on the ground, surrounded by beautiful flowers.


End file.
